Found this while looking up a related subject and thought that it was interesting, especially in light of some recent threads:
https://archive.org/details/1917CodeOfCanonLawCommentary/page/n2540/mode/1up(I find the link ^^^ easier to read than the OCR version below)
ecclesiastical burial, to whom granted or denied
to whom granted
Can. 1239
§ 1. Ad sepukuram ccclcsiasticam non sunt admit;-*
tendi qui sine baptismo decesserint.
§ 2. Catechumeni qui nulla sua culpa sine baptismo
moriantur, baptizatis accensendi sunt.
§ 3. Omnes baptizati sepultura ecclesiastica do-
nandi sunt, nisi eadem a iure expressc priventur.
§ I. Baptism, being the Sacrament of initiation and
sign of communion with the Church and membership in
the same, is the fundamental condition of receiving a.
Catholic burial. Baptism may be received by desire — •
baptismus flaminis — and this is generally supposed in,
those who had received instructions in the faith (catechu-
mens). Hence our canon in its first section states that no
person who has died -without Baptism may be admitted to
ecclesiastical burial. This includes even unbaptized in-
fants, though it is generally admitted that a child not yet
born may be buried together with the mother in conse-
crated ground.1 Besides, it appears, at least to many,
very awkward and offensive if this law should be applied
to burial in the ancestral grave. Yet, unless non-compli-
ance must be tolerated in order to avoid greater evils, the
law should be enforced.2
§ 2. Catechumens, or such as are preparing to em-
brace the Catholic faith, may be given ecclesiastical burial.
if they have died without baptism through no fault of
their own. For they are to be compared to baptized per-
sons.3 Thus if a would-be convert would die suddenly,
with no priest at hand, as may happen in places which
missionaries seldom visit, he could receive ecclesiastical
burial.
§ 3 says that, although one may be baptized, he must
be deprived of ecclesiastical burial if he has been ex-
pressly declared worthy of that penalty in law. For ec-
clesiastical burial is a sign of honor and respect given by
the Church to her dead children, and a consolation and
favor to the living. Denial of that favor must be looked
upon as a post mortem penalty for the dead, and a warn-
ing to the living.
However, being a penalty, the denial of ecclesiastical
burial must be strictly interpreted, and not extended
beyond the cases stated in the law. These now fol-
low.
CANON 1240 153
a.0 Excommunicato vel interdicti post sententiam
condemnatoriam vel declaratoriam ;
3.0 Qui se ipsi occiderint deliberate consilio;
4." Mortui in duello aut ex vulnere inde relato;
5.0 Qui mandaverint suum corpus cremationi tradi;
6.° Alii peccatores public! et manifesti.
§ 3. Occurrence praedictis in casibus aliquo dubio,
consulatur, si tempus sinat, Ordinarius; permanente
dubio, cadaver sepulturae ecclesiasticae tradatur, ita
tamen ut removeatur scandalum.
§ 1. Unless they have given signs of repentance be-
fore death, the following are deprived of ecclesiastical
burial :
i.° Notorious apostates from the Christian faith and
persons who notoriously belonged to a heretical or schis-
matical sect, or to the Masonic sect, or to other societies
of the satne kind.
The term apostates evidently includes pagans and Jєωs
as well as infidels or unbelievers who have fallen away
from the Christian faith and whose defection is notorious.
A Catholic who was an unbeliever, but not known as such
to others, because he kept his unbelief to himself, or ex-
pressed himself only to the one or other friend, who kept
the secret, could be buried ecclesiastically. For notoriety
implies public knowledge, or such as could not be con-
cealed by any artifice.4
Heretics and schismatics are those who have pertina-
ciously forsaken the Catholic faith or abjured obedience
to the Pope.5 Heresy and schism, too, must be notorious
to have the effect here under consideration. What was
said of apostates applies also to heretics and schismatics.
4 Can. 2197, 30; Cfr. c. 1*, x, III, »8.
5 Can. 1325. 4 2.
Thus a non-Catholic may be taken for a Catholic, because
he acts like one, although he is not convinced of the truth
of every Catholic dogma. Such a one might be given
ecclesiastical burial, provided, of course, that his heresy
was not notorious and he desired such a burial. The rea-
- son lies in the fact that by Baptism he belonged to the
body of the Church, and in his mind may even have be-
longed to the soul of the Church.
The next class is that of members of Masonic sects,
a
The adjective " damnatae" being omitted, it appears that
all Masonic rites are included. Eiusdem generis means
all societies whose principal purpose is to promote crema-
tion, or which have tendencies similar to those of Free-
masonry.
What is to be done if the relatives or friends of such a
person insist upon his receiving ecclesiastical burial? If
the priest was called and found the patient unconscious
or speechless, the relatives or friends must tell the priest
that the sick man had desired to see a priest and gave
signs of repentance.7 Besides, the body of the deceased
must not be carried into the Masonic hall or temple. If
this was desired by the deceased himself, ecclesiastical
burial must be denied, but if the Masons carry the coffin
against the will of the defunct, ecclesiastical burial may
be granted.8
2.0 Persons excommunicated and interdicted after a
condemnatory or declaratory sentence. The text requires
that a sentence of excommunication or interdict has been
pronounced. Whether this sentence be one declaring that
the person had de facto incurred excommunication, or
one directly inflicted by the ecclesiastical judge, is of no
CANON 1240
importance. It is also immaterial whether the excom-
municatus be vitandus or only tolerandus. Stress, how-
ever, is laid on the sentence. The interdict is here to
be understood of the personal interdict, which requires a
declaratory or condemnatory sentence and is generally
accompanied by a personal sentence.10
3.0 Those who have deliberately killed themselves.
As a rule, says the Holy Office,11 those who commit sui-
cide from despair or in wrath (desperatione vel iraettn-
dia) cannot be given ecclesiastical burial. But when in-
sanity has been proved, or was evident, and attested by
the verdict of a conscientious physician, ecclesiastical
sepulture is permitted with all its ceremonies. When
there is a doubt as to the ѕυιcιdє's mental state, ecclesi-
astical burial may be granted, but all pomp and solemn
exequies must be avoided. This would mean that the
funeral service may be held from the church, but that the
Requiem Mass should be omitted, as well as preaching,
for this is certainly a species of " pomp." A private
Mass may be said.
4° Those who died in a duel or from a wound re-
cch'cd in a duel. The term duel (ducllutn, monoma-
chia) signifies a contest with deadly weapons which takes
place by agreement between two persons on account of
some private quarrel." Hence our prize-fights, in which
no deadly weapons are used, and bull-fights, cannot be
styled duels. Tt is otherwise with the so-called " Men-
saren " of students and officers, as practiced chiefly in
Austria and Germany.18 This " detestable custom," as it
156 ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
is called by the Council of Trent and Benedict XIV,1* was
and still is wide-spread, especially in Teutonic countries,
where it also had its origin in pagan times. The Church
tried to eradicate this savage custom and inflicted severe
penalties on the perpetrators.15 One of these is precisely
the denial of ecclesiastical burial.
Our text says that only those who died in the act of
duelling, or from a wound received in a duel, are to be
deprived of ecclesiastical burial. Benedict XIV, in a
well-known Constitution, uses a similar expression: "a
decedente quoque extra confiicttts locuм ex vulnere
ibidem accepio." Therefore a connection between cause
and effect must be maintained. In other words, the
wound received in a duel must be the cause of death.
And it seems that a direct cause is required, for it may be
that a wound received in a duel causes some other disease,
after a time, and in this case we hardly believe that the
penalty could be sustained.
5.0 Those who ordered their body to be cremated.
Of this enough has been said under can. 1203, § 2. Such
persons must have retracted their order before death,
otherwise they cannot receive ecclesiastical burial.
6.° Other public and manifest sinners. This phrase
is rather wide, but may be contracted to a few categories
in the light of former legislation. By sin must here be
understood a delictum publicuм, or crime, which is such
intrinsically as well as in the eyes of sensible persons.
To this class belong: (a) manifest and public usurers and
robbers, unless they have made restitution ; 10 public
profiteers and bank or train robbers; (b) those who ac-CANON 1240 157
tually live a sinful and scandalous life, e. g., in public
concubinage, or conduct a notoriously meretricious trade,
or panderage;" (c) those who have habitually violated
the precepts of annual confession and communion. As to
the last-named class of persons the Roman Ritual 1B says
that their fault must be evident, which means that they
must have omitted their Easter duty for several years and
be known to the faithful as having been guilty of serious
neglect.1*
Note that all the persons mentioned under n. 1-6 are
deprived of ecclesiastical burial only if they have given no
signs of repentance. If they have given such signs, they
mav be buried like faithful Catholics, because it is the
desire of the Church that all should return to God's
grace by contrition and be restored to communion with
the mystic body of Christ.20
Signs of repentance would be kissing the crucifix, acts
of devotion, oral prayers, etc. But these signs, especially
in case of public sinners, must be known and divulged to
the bystanders and the faithful. If this has been done,
ecclesiastical burial may be given; but if possible, pomp
and solemn exequies should be omitted.21
Benedict XIV excluded duellists from ecclesiastical
burial, even when they had given certain signs of pen-
ance.2' This too rigorous clause has been softened in
our code, as is manifest from the position of the phrase,
"nisi ante mortem aliqua dcderlnt signa pocn'ttentiac."
§ 2. It may be in the six cases mentioned that the
pastor has a doubt, for instance, concerning a ѕυιcιdє, or a
wound received in a duel, whether it was the direct cause
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
of death. If time permits, he should inform the Ordi-
nary and abide by his decision.23 If the doubt remains
even after the pastor has been advised by the Ordinary,
ecclesiastical burial may be granted, provided no scandal is
given. Scandal may be removed by divulging the fact
that the deceased gave public signs of repentance, or that,
for instance, the ѕυιcιdє was committed in a moment of
mental aberration according to the physician's verdict.
Can. 1241
Excluso ab ecclesiastica sepultura deneganda quo-
que sunt turn quaelibet Missa exsequialis, etiam anni-
versaria, turn alia publica officia funebria.
For those who have been deprived of ecclesiastical
burial no [public] Requiem Mass, no anniversary, or
other public funeral service may be held.
We enclose the word " public " within brackets, but it
no doubt expresses Ihe intention of the legislator. For
private Masses may be said for any of the persons men-
tioned under n. 1-6, provided there be no comtnunicatio
in sacris. Thus it has been decided that a private Mass
may be said for one who ordered his body to be cre-
mated." In cases of doubt the Ordinary, who has to
be consulted in the matter, may grant permission to have
solemn funeral services if he deems it expedient. 80
CANON 1242 159
exhumation of corpses
Can. 1242
Si fieri sine gravi incommodo queat, cadaver excom-
municati vitandi qui, contra canonum statuta, sepul-
turam in loco sacro obtinuit, exhumandum est, servato
praescripto can. 1214, § 1, et in loco profano de quo in
can. 1212, reponendum.
If it can be done without great inconvenience, the body
of an excommunicato vitandus, who obtained burial in
sacred ground against the law, should be exhumed, with
the permission of the bishop,26 and be buried in a lot
especially assigned for that purpose.17
30 Can. 1214, 5 1-
zt Can. 1 in', see a i-\ ±, III, 28.
I Original from
jf^OOglL UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
Topic: Ecclesiastical burial (Read 217 times)